Gilroy · from four in the morning · every day
Locked out at half past five. The shift still starts at six.
Most of this town is up before the sun. Crews load out for the fields and the packing sheds, framers leave for a job that opens at seven, and anyone working up in San Jose is already on the 101. So the call that actually costs money here comes before dawn, not at midnight — and an early-morning visit is priced the same as an evening one, and less than a night one.
Answered around the clock · the $89 visit is counted inside the figure.
4.9 / 5216 reviewsGilroy
Who is already awake when the phone rings
- 4:40amThe crew is loading out for the fields and the shedsNobody waits. A door that will not open is a shift that has already left without you, and it cannot be moved to the afternoon.
- 5:30amThe drive north to San JoseHalf an hour lost here is an hour and a half lost on the 101, because you have gone from ahead of the traffic to inside it.
- 6:15amFramers and trades on a job that opens at sevenThe tools are locked in the garage or the shop, and the site starts without them at seven whether you are there or not.
A visit between four and seven in the morning costs the same as one at nine in the evening and less than one at one in the morning, because in Gilroy the early hour is ordinary working time rather than an emergency. The $89 visit is counted inside every figure on this page.
What we do
Sixteen jobs, and the busiest hour is before six
A front door that shut behind somebody at twenty to five, a key snapped in a cold cylinder, a shed personnel door that will not turn before a load goes out, a padlock on a yard gate, a shopfront on the old main street, a work truck with the tools locked inside. Pick the work and the range is on this page. Say the hour and what stopped you on the call and the range becomes one figure.
from $99Emergency
Openings at any hour, and the early ones priced like an evening
- House Lockout$119–$209
- Car Lockout$99–$189
- Business Lockout$135–$239
- Post Break-In Lock Repair$169–$409
from $25/cylResidential
Rekeys, deadbolts, keypads and safes for stucco streets, old bungalows and new builds
- Lock Rekeying$25–$41 per cylinder
- Lock Replacement & Installation$112–$279
- Smart Lock Installation$169–$419
- Safe Opening$189–$495
from $145Commercial
Sheds, cold stores, shopfronts and yards, opened before the load moves
- Master Key Systemscustom quote
- Panic Bars & Exit Devices$269–$699
- Access Control$145–$389
- Storefront Door Locks$149–$419
from $89Automotive
Keys, fobs and ignitions done where the vehicle is parked, at the hour it is needed
- Car Key Replacement$155–$379
- Key Fob Programming$89–$179
- Ignition Repair$169–$395
- Motorcycle Keys$109–$245
Prices
Every figure we publish, and the hour that moves it
All sixteen jobs and their ranges are on this page, and so is the hour. Say what time it is and what happened, and the range closes to one figure on the call with the hour already counted in.
Emergency
from $99
Residential
from $25/cyl
Commercial
from $145
The cheapest line that fixes it is the one we quote. A key that has needed force for weeks gets repinned rather than replaced, a door that has dropped gets its strike moved rather than a new lock, and three doors that want one key are a rekey and not four purchases. Say the hour and what stopped you when you call (669) 356-8920.
On every job
Before the Shift
Four things that hold the same way at ten to five in the morning as they do at two in the afternoon, for a house off Monterey Road, a shop on the old main street, a packing shed on the east side or a truck at the kerb.
- 1The early hour is priced like an evening, not like an emergencyBetween four and seven in the morning a job carries $40 on top, which is exactly what the same job carries between eight and midnight, and less than the $70 it carries after midnight. That is deliberate. In this town the small hours are not exotic; half the working population is already awake, and charging them a panic premium for being early would be dishonest. The figure is said on the call with that already counted in.
- 2One figure on the call, and the receipt repeats itThe number covers the visit, the labour and the parts. A cylinder that turns out to be older than the house, a strike screwed into trim instead of framing, a keypad with flat cells, a bolt that has not lined up since the last hot spell: none of that moves it. Your card is charged what you were told on the phone, and an itemised receipt reaches your email before the van leaves the street.
- 3Cold opening first, and nothing destructive until you have agreed to itPicks, shims and bypass tools come out before anything destructive does, so the lock is still a working lock when the van pulls away. If one genuinely will not give, you hear what it is doing, what would replace it and what that costs, and the decision is yours. Agreeing to a drill has never earned anyone here a larger number.
- 4You leave with a key or a code that works, not just an open doorGetting you in is half of it. The other half is that tomorrow morning is not a repeat of this one: a key cut at the van for the door that had none, a rekey so one key runs the house, the shop and the side gate, or a code you choose yourself and enter twice while the technician is still standing there.
Reviews
What people say when they made the shift
Early lockouts, snapped keys, rekeys, sheds and work trucks, from the old main street to Eagle Ridge, with the figure people actually paid.
4.9/ 5216reviews
Gilroy
“Twenty to five in the morning, door shut behind me, keys on the counter, and the van for the crew leaving at five. I called expecting to be told it was an emergency rate. $159 with the early hour already in it, and he was there in fourteen minutes. I made the ride. He cut me a key at the van before he left so it cannot happen again.”
“Lost the only key to the work truck the night before a job in Morgan Hill. Called at half five, he was on my driveway by six and had a key cut and coded before seven. $268. He did a spare at the same time for a lot less than a second call-out would have been, which was the smartest thing anybody suggested to me that week.”
“Bought my grandmother's house and wanted every old key to stop working. Front, back and the garage down the side, all onto one key, $96 for the three. He kept the original 1940s lock on the front because he said it was better than anything he would sell me, and just repinned it. Handed back the old keys in a bag.”
“Personnel door on the shed would not turn at ten past five and a load was going out at six. That is not one person waiting, that is nine. He was there in twelve minutes, had it open without damage, and put a new cylinder in the same visit. $214 quoted on the phone and $214 charged.”
“Keypad lock so the kids stop losing keys and my mother can get in during the day. $255, fitted into the existing hole, codes set by me and tested twice before he left. He talked me out of the fancier model I had picked because the mechanical part of it was the weaker one, which cost him money and earned my recommendation.”
“Ten past one in the morning, back from a late shift, door locked and the spare gone. $189 with the overnight in it, said before he set off. Twelve minutes. What I noticed is that he told me straight the same job would have been $159 four hours later, which is not what anybody else would have volunteered at one in the morning.”
Why us
The hour decides more here than the door does.
The early window is the whole point, not an extra
Most locksmiths treat anything before seven as an emergency and price it accordingly. In Gilroy that is simply wrong about the town: the fields, the sheds, the sites and the commute all start in the dark, and the busiest hour on this phone is between five and six. So four to seven carries $40, the same as an evening job, and less than the night. The van is loaded and out at that hour because that is when the work is, not because somebody has been dragged out of bed.
Locks and keys, and an honest stop at everything else
Locks, cylinders, deadbolts, keypads, keys, gates and the doors those things hang in. Garage door springs, panels, cables and opener motors belong to a different trade, and so do alarms and irrigation timers on a gate. When the overhead door itself has failed mechanically you hear that inside the first minute, you get into the house through a keyed door on the same visit, and you call the right trade in daylight.
The van carries what this valley actually has on its doors
Builder hardware from the eighties and nineties on the streets north of the centre, original knob sets and mortise cases on the east-side bungalows, keypad deadbolts from the west-side builds, padlocks and hasps for yard gates and sheds, and blanks for the work trucks that half the town drives to San Jose. When you say the street, the right half of the van is already the answer.
One van at the north end of Monterey Road, and every minute measured from it
No shop and no counter. Sitting where Monterey Road meets the north edge of town puts the old centre at 9 minutes, the east side at 10, the outlets and the highway at 10, Sunrise Park at 11, Las Animas and South Gilroy at 12, Glen Loma at 13 and Eagle Ridge at 17. Eleven is the average. Where an area runs slower it gets named as slower while you are still on the phone, not after half an hour of waiting.
How it works
From the hour you call to a key back in your hand
- 1
You call and say what time it is and what happened
The hour matters as much as the door here, so lead with it: half past five and the crew is leaving, ten at night and you are home, one in the morning and you are not. Then what stopped you: door shut behind you, key snapped, key turns halfway, code forgotten, padlock will not open. Give the street and the district.
- 2
One figure on the call, with the tier for that hour already folded in
One number covers the visit, the labour and the parts, with the $89 visit inside it and the early, evening or overnight tier counted when the clock calls for it. If what you are describing is a spring, a panel or an opener motor, you hear that here rather than after somebody has driven out. You answer yes or no with the number in front of you.
- 3
The van leaves the north end of Monterey Road and a text names who is coming
The message carries the technician's name and a thirty-minute window drawn from where the van actually is. At the door, ID gets matched to the address, a lease page to the unit, or a registration to the plate, before a case is opened.
- 4
You leave holding a key that works, and the receipt shows the figure you were given
The door is opened without damage wherever the mechanism allows and goes back to being a working lock. Then a key gets cut, the cylinders get pinned to match, or a code gets set and tested by you. Card or tap on the spot, an itemised receipt in your inbox, and a written line for a landlord or an insurer when one is needed.
Coverage
Every part of Gilroy, and the towns down the valley
The van sits at the north end of Monterey Road. Average arrival 11 minutes across Gilroy, longer out to San Martin, Hollister, Aromas, San Juan Bautista and Watsonville. Every area page carries its own minute.
Free estimate
Four questions, then the same range this site publishes.
Not an emergency? Answer four questions and the published range for that work comes back on the screen, with nothing held behind a phone call. If it is urgent, the form steps aside and hands you the number.
- 1What went wrong?A lockout, a key, a lock change, or something else entirely.
- 2Where is the door?A house, an apartment, a car or a business.
- 3How soon?If it is right now, the form gets out of the way and you call.
- 4Where does the range go?A name and a number. Email and cross street only if you like.
Before you call anyone
Five questions worth asking at five in the morning, before you give an address
Search for a locksmith here and a good share of what comes back is a call centre in another state that sells your address to whoever is nearest, advertises a two-figure price, then collects three hundred once the door is open, usually after drilling a lock that would have picked in four minutes. The questions below take about a minute between them, and anyone working straight answers all five without stalling.
- 1Ask for one figure with the $89 visit inside it and the hour counted too. "Starting at" and "the tech will price it on site" are not prices, they are room kept open for later.
- 2Ask what the early morning costs. Anyone treating five in the morning as a panic rate does not work in this town, where half the population is already up and out.
- 3Ask what happens if the door turns out to be different from the one you described. If the number changes at that point, you were given a starting point rather than a price.
- 4Ask what comes out of the case before a drill does, and what hardware goes on if drilling wins anyway. Anybody whose first answer is a drill has not thought about your door.
- 5Do not accept cash-only. A landlord, an insurer, a site office or your own books all need an itemised receipt with a business name on it, and a number written on a scrap of paper satisfies none of them.
FAQ
Asked on the way to the phone
Do you really come out at five in the morning?+
Every day, and it is the busiest window on this site rather than a favour. The early tier runs from four to seven and carries $40 on top, which is the same as an evening job and less than the $70 an overnight one carries. Half this town is awake and working at that hour, so pricing it as a panic call would be dishonest. The figure is said on the call with the hour already inside it.
Why is early morning cheaper than the middle of the night?+
Because they are different things. A call at one in the morning wakes somebody up. A call at half past five reaches a van that is already out, on a road with traffic on it, in a town where the working day has started. Charging both as if they were the same would be charging you for our inconvenience rather than for the work. Four to seven is $40, midnight to four is $70.
How quickly can somebody be here?+
Eleven minutes is the citywide average, measured from where the van sits at the north end of Monterey Road. Downtown and the old main street run about 9 minutes, the east side 10, the outlets and the 101 corridor 10, Sunrise Park 11, Las Animas 12, South Gilroy and Luchessa 12, Glen Loma 13, and Eagle Ridge and the hills 17. Out of town it is longer and gets named as longer on the call: San Martin 14, Hollister 24, Aromas 26, San Juan Bautista 28 and Watsonville 33.
What decides where in the range my job lands?+
Three things move a job inside its range. What the door actually is, because a front deadbolt, a shed personnel door and a padlocked yard gate are different amounts of work. What state the hardware is in, since a knob set from 1948 behaves differently from a keypad fitted last year. And the hour, which on this site is not a footnote: the same job is one figure at nine in the morning and another at half past five. Once those three are settled the number is single, and it is what appears on the receipt.
Can one key open the house, the shop and the side gate?+
Yes, and it is the most common job here. The locks stay on the doors and take new pins, which retires every key handed out before today. It is $25 to $41 per cylinder, and the second and third sit at the low end because the van is already at your kerb. Worth doing when you buy, when a crew changes, when a tenant moves out, or simply when you count the keys that exist and cannot account for all of them.
My key snapped off in the lock on a cold morning. Is the lock finished?+
Usually not. The broken half comes out of the keyway wherever the cylinder allows, and often the lock is fine afterwards. What matters is what happened before: a key that has needed force for weeks is a lock telling you something, and dealing with it in daylight is $25 to $41 for a repin against $119 to $209 for an extraction at half five with you standing outside.
I rent here. Does that change anything for a lockout?+
Not to be let back into the place you pay for. Bring photo ID showing the address, or ID plus something on your phone that ties you to the unit, such as a lease page, a rent receipt or addressed mail. Changing hardware is a different matter: a rekey or a new keypad on a rented door needs your landlord's agreement, and that is easier to settle before the van comes out than in a doorway afterwards.
Do you work on the packing sheds and cold stores?+
Yes, and the hour is usually the point. A shed door that will not turn at five in the morning stops a crew and a load rather than one person, so those calls get treated as what they are. Personnel doors, padlocks, yard gates, exit devices and staff-door keypads are all ours. The roll-up bay mechanism and its motor are a different trade, and you will be told which one has stopped you before anybody drives out.
We just bought a house here. What should actually get done?+
Three things, in this order. Change any keypad codes, which costs nothing and takes two minutes, because the code you were handed has been through a builder, an agent and everyone they let in. Rekey the metal locks so the keys from that same list stop working, at $25 to $41 per cylinder with everything brought onto one key. Then look at whether any exterior door is running on a latch alone, which on the older east-side houses is common; a proper deadbolt there is $112 to $279 and it is the only part of this we will mention twice.
Do you cover San Martin, Hollister, Watsonville and the small towns?+
All of them, around the clock, at the same prices as Gilroy. The clock changes a figure; the address does not. What the address changes is how long you wait: San Martin about 14 minutes, Hollister 24, Aromas 26, San Juan Bautista 28 and Watsonville 33 over Hecker Pass, against 9 to 17 inside Gilroy. If you are out of town you hear the longer number on the call, before you commit to waiting for it.
Open 24 hours, 7 days
Say the hour and what stopped you, hear the figure, get to work on time
Gilroy plus San Martin, Hollister, Aromas, San Juan Bautista and Watsonville, around the clock, every day. Four to seven in the morning costs what an evening costs and less than a night, and whatever hour it is, the number comes back on the call with the $89 visit already inside it — and it is the number on the receipt.